Intravenous Therapies

Nutritional IV therapy has gained popularity because it can deliver nutrients in greater amounts than would be able to be absorbed by the gut, and over shorter periods of time.

“Myer’s Cocktail”, originally designed by Dr. Myers, are usually a moderate amount of Vitamin C, a complex of B-vitamins, Calcium, Magnesium, Selenium and Zinc. They’re considered the bread and butter of IV therapy as they can be used for a wide variety of applications, and are quite safe and well tolerated.

Vitamin C

Because Vitamin C has such a short half-life (30 minutes) it’s pretty much gone from your blood within 3 hours. It’s also hard to absorb more than 2 grams per hour orally, so peak blood levels would theoretically rarely pass 2.5 grams. With Intravenous, however, we can deliver 5-50grams of vitamin C within an hour, allowing us to reach a therapeutic range.

Consecutive treatments (>1-2 per week) of doses higher than 15 grams of vitamin C require a genetic test to ensure you can safely tolerate this treatment (G-6-P-D deficiency).

NAD+

NAD+ is a coenzyme required for re-dox reactions in the mitochondria of your cells. Your mitochondria are your cellular power-plants, and decreased NAD+ concentrations are associated with aging. Intravenous NAD+ hypothetically supercharges your mitochondria so that tissues requiring more energy have improved function. This could potentially improve how quickly we heal, manage inflammation, or re-structure our nervous system.

Amino Acids

Amino acids are necessary to tissue regeneration as well as enzyme and neurotransmitter synthesis. IV therapy allows us to deliver specific amino acids for specific goals. Proline, for example, helps with recovery of muscle/collagen tissue, while Taurine helps with magnesium balance in the mitochondria and can help provide more energy.

What conditions or health concerns could be helped by IV therapies?

Fatigue

chronic colds and flus

brain fog

anxiety /depression

chronic stress

slow recovery from injuries

concussions

IBS

crohns disease

colitis

cancer

B-Vitamins

B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9 and B12 are all crucial to energy production, which stretches to benefit in a number of tissues through the body. IV B-vitamins allow for a greater concentration of these vitamins in the blood, which creates a greater concentration gradient between the blood and the cell. This allows for more B-vitamins to be delivered to the cell, and for less to be excreted through the urine without being used.

Minerals (Zinc, Selenium, Calcium, Magnesium, Molybdenum)

These minerals serve a multitude of function from encouraging a proper and healthy immune system, to ensuring tissue recovery and proper heart and muscle function. They can also be co-factors for a variety of enzymes in the body. In short, they’re necessary for normal function.

Glutathione

Glutathione is an endogenous anti-oxidant that is highly active in your liver. It’s job is to manage free radicals, allowing your liver to work at detoxification without having to slow down. In this manner, we use it to encourage detoxification.

Who could benefit from having IV Therapy?

1. Athlete

Let’s be honest, recovery is the name of the game if you’re looking for support. With Vitamin C, Selenium, Zinc, B-vitamins, and amino acids like proline, glycine, taurine, and carnitine you can be sure you’re getting what you need to recover muscle, ligament, nervous, vascular and immune activity. Up to twice a week under a heavy workout regime, pre and post endurance sprint (marathon), or if you just need some extra speedy recovery are some good applications for these IV’s.

2. Immune Boosting

Vitamin C in medium doses can be great to ward off infections, and giving it with Selenium, Zinc, B-vitamins, and Lysine can help your immune system manage bacterial and viral infections better. Twice a week if you’re acutely sick, or need to keep something at bay temporarily, and 1-4x per month if you’re looking for general support.

3. Cancer

High doses of vitamin C (without the B-vitamins, selenium, or zinc) can provide an oxidative burst to cancer tissue, while being easy for healthy tissue to manage. Research has shown Vitamin C is safe with conventional cancer treatment (radiation and chemo) as well as improves the outcomes of these treatments for aggressive cancers like Glioblastoma. Talk with your oncologist about Vitamin C therapies.

4. Energy

On the whole, people generally feel better after receiving a Myer’s cocktail, and sometimes we also add an Amino Acid blend (Travasol-C) for added general support. Some of our patients reserve these for periods of excess stress (exams, busy work seasons) and find they can persevere much better than without them.